Candle Burning 101

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Don’t you just love the soft glow of a candle? Your favourite scent wafting through the house, its mesmerising flame flickering softly. Here are a few tips to ensure your candles burn properly.

A. Trim your wick before the first burn and always keep it trimmed to 1/4”

B. Always allow your candle to completely liquefy across the top before blowing it out to avoid ‘tunneling’. Wherever it stops burning the first time, it will continue to stop there every time you burn it causing it to tunnel if it has not liquefied all the way across.

C.Try to burn candles for no more than 3 to 4 hours at a time – this will increase the total burn time.

D. An uneven burn could be from a draft, so rotate the candle 90 degrees every now and then to keep the burn uniform.

E. A good way to extinguish a candle and prevent black soot is to push the wick into the warm wax pool. Use a paper clip or other object and return the wick to a standing position immediately. It prevents smoke from coming off the wick!

F. Discontinue burning your candle when about ½” of wax remains. It’s ok to have a little wax leftover so that you don’t expose the bottom of the wick.

G. Candles with large diameters should be burned for no longer than a couple of hours at a time. This will help keep the sides intact, allowing the candle to get the glow from within.